Snow Hits Taunton

Just come out of Asda, and it turns out the snow has finally hit Taunton.
Snowy White Christmas? Maybe.
Snow Covered Chavs? Definitely.
:)

#billandnadine - A Wedding Tweeted

Finally, it's here. Remember our wedding? Yes, it was three whole months ago - no number of little hitches could stop a day to remember. Lots of people were tweeting the event live to the web, as this little graph courtesy of Google Trends shows:

And there was a lot to be reported on! After all, where else do you have an event featuring iPads, Pendulum, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar in the same day?

The whole point of the tweeting (using the hashtag #billandnadine, of course) was to collate a big 360° view of the proceedings on the day, as well as the preperations, run-up, and aftermath too. Maybe you were one of our tweeting journalists...

Now, you can have a look at the end result here online, or even buy the book to keep forever...

Be sure to leave a comment below and let us know what you think!

Today...

I met Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen.
Random or what?

Rant: Prepaid Gift Cards - Why???

I recently came into possession of a MasterCard gift card to the value of £50. Superb, I thought - but as my experience has continued, I've gotten more and more frustrated with the thing.

For those of you that don't know, a MasterCard gift card is designed to replace the giving of traditional gift vouchers and gift cards (which can only be spent in one particular store), and also the giving of cash (or cheques) in greetings cards.

The premise is that you can spend one of these cards anywhere that takes MasterCard - so that should be loads of places then, with something for everyone.

First of all, let's say you're giving someone £50. You don't pay £50 - you pay £53.95. This is because there's a £3.95 "card activation fee", that as the buyer of the card you must pay. This is a bit of a sting, but some may argue that convenience has a price.

You then give the card to the intended recipient. Fair enough. The lucky recipient should then be able to spend it as they wish. This is where the problems creep in. The card doesn't have a chip on it, and you're not issued with a PIN to use - you have to sign the back of the card and use it like credit cards of old.

The first place I tried to use it yesterday was Burger King. Upon inspection of the card, I was told that they wouldn't accept it because of the lack of chip in the card. So much for being able to use it everywhere. I paid for my lunch with a normal bank card, and I'm on my way.

Next stop, Carphone Warehouse. Works fine there. Maybe Burger King was the "wildcard" - maybe they don't trust their employees to check signatures against the backs of the cards. I don't know.

After this, I'm off to Asda. After selecting what I want, I make my way to the checkout - and I'm told that they can't take it. A bit of arguing later, and they reluctantly agree to try swiping the card - which doesn't work. They refuse flat to key the card's numbers in. A trip to another checkout and it is finally accepted by swiping and signing for it.

So, using it isn't exactly as easy as I'd hoped. I log onto the card provider's website to check how much is left. The site tells me I have 39p. This leaves the next question - what can I get for 39p? There's nothing I can buy online for that amount - delivery would be too much - and I would probably get stabbed by a frustrated checkout operator if I tried to use it in a "real world" shop to pay for a bag of crisps or something.

This means there's 39p sitting there, that I'll probably never get to use, which will - according to the card's terms and conditions - automatically expire and become property of the company that produces the cards at the end of next year.

Overall - it seems to be a complete waste of time. The person giving the card is £3.95 down on the deal, I'm not even able to spend the whole £50 I was given in the first place, and actually spending anything at all is a hassle.

Rant over.